Text for Advent 4: Luke 1: 39-45

(The following object lesson can be used for in a children's sermon or for an introduction to an Advent Sunday school lesson)

 

Object lesson idea: Have some pictures of very sophisticated people and very poor and humble people. Have the children arrange them in order of importance. Kings and rulers on top and poor people on bottom. Explain how the coming of Jesus turns this world order “upside down.” Get the children to look through a magnifying glass that is held out at arms length. This will make everything look upside down. Jesus shows us that the worlds system and values are upside down.

 

Object Lesson items: Magnifying glass, Pictures of sophisticated people and poor people.

 

Children’s Sermon / Object lesson: Good morning children! This morning’s bible reading from Luke 1 is called Mary’s song or “the magnificat.” Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Mary is saying that her son to be born (Jesus) is going to “turn the world upside down.” To show you what this is like I’ll be using this magnifying glass. But first look at these pictures. Help me arrange them from top to bottom according to importance. (Pin the pictures on a board or get the children to hold them up.) That’s right; this person in the very fancy car would go on top. Yes, this poor person would go down here. (Get all the pictures in the “right” order.”) This certainly is the way that most people see things; the rich and famous on top and the poor and helpless at the bottom. However, the bible teaches us that Jesus turned things upside down. Jesus wasn’t that impressed by rich and glamorous people and he had a love and compassion for the helpless. Jesus saw the world very differently than other people. I’ll show you what I mean. Look at this magnifying glass. It’s used for making small things look big. But if you hold it out at arms length it makes things look upside down. (Hold it about two feet in front of the children so that they can see that it makes things look upside down.) Jesus looked at people differently. (Look through the magnifying glass at the ordered pictures) Now when I look at these pictures I see the poor people at the top and the rich and sophisticated people at the bottom.  Now the famous people look like they are at the bottom and the poor people are at the top. The way of Jesus and his kingdom makes the way of the world seem upside down. If you have a magnifying glass at home trying looking through it like this. When it makes things look upside down remember that this is like Jesus’ kingdom. In his kingdom many things are “upside down” compared to the world.

Children’s prayer. Dear God, we are so thankful that even though we are not rich or famous we are still very important to you. Help us to see the world the same way that you see it. Help us to follow Jesus and live the way you want us to live even when others may not understand. - In Jesus’ name. Amen!

 

 (Note: I realize I’ve used some big words here. Please substitute words that are appropriate for your audience. I’ll fix it up when I have some time)

Idea for the Children’s Sermon / Sunday School Lesson: In Mark 13:1-8 Jesus warned his disciples not to be deceived by false Christ’s who claim “I am he.” Bring the children forward. Have your pastor and two other “false” pastors stand behind a partition where only their voices can be heard. Ask Pastor # 1, Pastor #2 and Pastor # 3, various question and let the children pick the real pastor. Discuss with the children about being careful not to follow a false saviour.

 

Objects needed for the lesson: A partition, barrier or something to hide the “pastors” behind. Use your pastor or some other person well known to the children. The two other imposters could act out different personalities. One imposter could sound like a TV evangelist, and the other could be very harsh or angry. On the other hand, they could try their best to sound like the pastor.

 

Good morning children! In our bible reading from Mark chapter 13 Jesus warned his disciples that there would be false saviours who would lie and say “I’m God’s chosen one.” He said that we needed to be very careful not to believe everyone who claims to be the saviour. This morning I want to see if you are easily fooled. Do you see that wall over their? Pastor Jones is over there hidden out of sight. There are also 2 people that are all pretending to be Pastor Jones! I want to see if you can tell who the real pastor Jones is. Don’t call out your answer right away. I’ll ask some question and you listen very closely. (Ask the “pastors” to each say hello to the children. Then ask some specific questions): Pastor Number 1. How long have you been the pastor of this church? (Listen carefully with the children). Ask the same question to the other “pastors.” Pastor number 2, Why is following Jesus so important? Etc.

Children, I trust you listened very carefully. When I count to three I want you to all call out which one you think is the real Pastor Jones. 1, 2, 3 (Let the children call out their response. If they have been attending church for a while it should be easy for them to guess the right answer. Have the real pastor come forward into view. Give the children a cheer and then have the other false pastors reveal themselves.) That was fun children. You did very well at picking out the real pastor. In life we always need to be careful who we believe and who we follow. As I said before, Jesus warned us that there would be people out in the world that would pretend to be sent from God. They would pretend to be a saviour just like Jesus. If someone tells you they are a saviour like Jesus I wouldn’t believe them. It was pretty easy for us to know who the real pastor was. However, in order that we are not deceived by a false saviour we the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he would send us the Holy Spirit and that he would guide us and lead us into the truth. Let’s pray and ask for the Holy Spirits help right now.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God. Thank you for sending Jesus to be our saviour. Thank you for his love, his life and for his church. Help us never to be tricked by someone pretending to be like Jesus. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we have the power to know you and to follow your son Jesus Christ -the real saviour of the world. We ask this in Jesus’ name – Amen!

Copyright Sundaychildrensfocus.com  Andrew Hewlett  Feel free to us this story on Sunday morning but please give credit to sundaychildrensfocus.com and consider linking your web site to this page.  Thank you. A.H.

Children’s sermon idea: Show the children a small battery operated smoke detector. (These are very common) Push the test button to catch their attention. Discuss the role of a smoke detector and then explain the role of John the Baptist. Wake up! It’s dangerous to be ill prepared for Jesus.

 

As a Sunday School lesson: Demonstrate the smoke detector’s loud beep.

-Discuss what sort of things John could do to warn the people that Jesus was coming.

-Discuss the things the children might do if they knew Jesus was coming tomorrow.

-Discuss what they can do now to get ready for welcoming Jesus at Christmas and being ready for his return at any time. (What does it mean to “repent” and “wake up.”?)

 

Object lesson items: Small battery operated smoke detector. If you don’t have one a friend or neighbor will. They can usually be released by pressing up and turning a ¼ turn counterclockwise.

 

Full Children’s Sermon for Advent:

Good morning children. Today, in this season of Advent our bible reading is about John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a messenger sent to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. He knew Jesus was coming and that the people needed to get ready. This morning I brought something from home that is designed to wake us up and get us ready. (Hold up the smoke detector). Do you know what this is? It’s a smoke detector. It’s designed to make a loud beep if it detects smoke from a fire. That way, if a fire started in your house late at night it would beep loudly, wake you up, and then you could get to safety. Listen to the loud beep. (Push the center test button to sound the alarm. Or, you could hold a match underneath, blow it out, and let the smoke trigger the sound. You could ask them to pretend to be asleep before sounding the alarm. ) That really woke you up didn’t it!

The smoke detector wakes us up and warns us that we’d better get ready and go to safety. John the Baptist was a bit like this smoke detector. A long time ago many of the people living in Israel were not thinking about being right with God. John the Baptist sounded the alarm, by saying “wake up,” “repent” and get ready for the Savior. This took place many years ago in Israel but John’s message is important for us today. If we are being asleep to God it’s important that we wake up. I think it is especially important at this time of year when we are getting ready for Christmas. At Christmas time it is especially important that we are living in such a way that our hearts are open to Jesus Christ. We certainly couldn’t have Christmas without Jesus Christ. Also, if we wake up to God and live lives pleasing to him we will be ready when Jesus returns.

 

Children’s Prayer: Dear God, thank you for these smoke detectors that wake us up and warn us when there is a fire. Thank you for sending John the Baptist to prepare the way and wake people up in preparation for Jesus. We know that if we have our hearts right before you we will be ready to welcome Jesus this Christmas and we’ll also be ready to see him when he returns to earth again. In Jesus Name – Amen!

Copyright sundaychildrensfocus.com   Andrew Hewlett 2008 Feel free to use this at your Church Service or Sunday school but please give credit to Sundaychildrensfocus and consider putting a link to this site. Blessings, A.H.  or "like" us on facebook